hk-debug

name	hk-debug
description	Diagnose failing or unexpectedly skipped hk checks and git hooks, including file selection, configuration overrides, and partially staged files. Use when a project using hk has a hook failure or a step runs on the wrong files.

Diagnose hk checks and hooks

Capture the failing command, hk --version, and git status --short. Distinguish a configuration error, an excluded step, a missing executable, and an error from the linter itself. Read the first substantive error from the failing step, not just hk's final exit status.

Inspect the effective configuration

Check HK_FILE first: when set, it replaces the normal candidate list (a relative path is searched from the working directory upward). Otherwise, walk upward from the working directory, checking hk.local.pkl, .config/hk.local.pkl, hk.pkl, then .config/hk.pkl at each level. Legacy hk.toml, hk.yaml, hk.yml, and hk.json are checked after those Pkl paths at each level. The first existing file wins. Inspect a local override's amends chain before editing the shared project file.

hk config sources prints the static precedence of configuration layers; hk config dump shows merged settings. Neither identifies the selected project file. Inspect relevant HK_* overrides and use hk config explain skip_steps (or another relevant setting) when a setting differs from the project file.

Run hk validate for Pkl evaluation or schema errors. Compare the project's pinned package imports with its installed hk version before suggesting an upgrade.

Explain skipped steps and files

Preview the same hook and file-selection flags as the failing invocation:

hk run pre-commit --plan --why prettier
hk check --all --why prettier

These are different scopes: the second command is useful as a comparison, not a reproduction of a staged-file failure. Replace prettier with the actual step. --why implies a plan and explains inclusion and exclusion; --json makes that plan machine-readable.

Check the selected paths against glob, exclude, dir, workspace_indicator, profiles, conditions, and skipped-step settings. hk check and hk run pre-commit may have different step mappings and fix/stash settings. A successful all-files check does not prove the staged snapshot will pass.

Reproduce the failing step

Once the plan identifies the right files and command, narrow execution to that step. For example:

hk check --check --step prettier path/to/file.ts

--check chooses check commands, but a custom check can still write files. Inspect it before executing. For command-not-found errors, check the configured prefix, working directory, and project tool environment rather than installing a different global tool. For linter errors, fix the reported code or configuration and rerun the same scope.

For partially staged files, inspect both git diff and git diff --cached. hk may stash unstaged changes, run fixers, stage their output, then restore the unstaged work. If restoration fails, preserve hk's recovery message and the current index/worktree; do not drop stashes or reset files to make the error disappear. Resolve the specific conflict while preserving both sets of changes.

Do not disable the hook or add a skip setting as a substitute for fixing the cause unless the user asks for that behavior. Report the cause, the targeted change, and which original invocation now succeeds.

See the hook lifecycle and CLI reference for additional diagnostics; prefer the installed version's --help when flags differ.